Cold Wars 2019

Some shots from the Warmaster Revolution and Epic Armageddon tournaments from this past weekend at Cold Wars.

HOTT 52 - Getting Ready

Kaptain Kobold over at the Stronghold blog has been holding forth on the game HOTT (Hordes of the Things) for years now. This year, they decided to play a weekly game of HOTT a year and record them as HOTT 52. This sounds like a great idea for me, and will allow me to get off my painting/modeling obsession (and Minecraft addiction -- you should see the "Empire" I'm creating in my world, all in Survival!) .. anyway, to actually play games.

(See [1] for what HOTT is, if you've never heard of it before.)

I'm going back in time, though, back to the last published version of HOTT, 1.2, which is now available again on Lulu! After playing a version of HOTT that was updated for the latest DBA 3 rules, I've decided to go back. Not because the update HOTT2DBA3 rules are bad, but because a lot of HOTT play at conventions/events is still based on 2.1. I wanted to re-familiarize myself with the actual version.

I was reading through my well worn copy of the rules and kept finding odd notations that implied I had done something earlier, so I went through my Google Drive and found this:

HOTT Reference Sheet (Google Drive Link)

The first page is written for my Etinerra campaign world, and I converted the measurements to inches because "'Murica", but the rules summary works very well as a one sheet/two page summary of the game.

Rather than try to do a huge big restart to my wargames campaign in Etinerra, I'm just going to play some games with miniatures and get to playing HOTT regularly, THEN I can see about tying things back to Etinerra. So this coming weekend, I will do two games to catch up with the weeks - last weekend was all about my playtest of Hommlet!

While I love Chaos Wars and still play it, HOTT is perfect for an hourlong game that gives me some fun, but doesn't require a lot of time.

Thanks, Kaptain Kobold, for the inspiration!

[1] HOTT/Hordes of the Things is a fantasy miniatures wargame that uses a small number of figures to play out just about any fantasy setting you can imagine. It also allows you to make just about any army you can imagine, with an army list that ranges from high Tolkein fantasy, to Asian Indian mythology, to Discworld and even Christmas Land! The rules can be interesting to interpret, with "Barkerese" on the same level as "High Gygaxian" in terms of writing. There's a ton of help on the web and my reference sheet to help you with the rules!

Hi Rez Volunteering For Students.

Got this email today:

Here's a great opportunity for folks outside of Hi-Rez to help with Hi-Rez Expo and get free tickets to the full Dreamhack event and more.

College students (18 or older) are typically the best fit since this is a great networking opportunity even beyond the free event access and swag. 

http://www.esportsxchg.com/

[HackRead] Man Hacks Indian Tech Support Scam Call Center; Leaks CCTV Footage

Man hacks Indian tech support scam call center; leaks CCTV footage

Cha'alt Play Report On Roll20

Earlier today, I ran yet another one-hour session of Cha'alt using my own O5R hack / houserules Crimson Dragon Slayer.

More and more I enjoy the quick start, fast paced action and reliance on old school techniques like actually describing what you're character is doing, rather than rolling a die to determine ordinary things, such as exploring a room or talking your way past a guard.

Let me introduce the PCs...

• Ta Daar; half-orc fighter, chaos, goofball.
• Axel; half-orc fighter, chaos, tall and intimidating.
• Flint Deadlock; human, thief, neutral, he didn't really have a backstory or noteworthy detail, but this was a one-shot, so no big deal.
• Nanof Stylen; elf, sorcerer, chaos, obsessed with the dead.
• Q'ira; sky-elf, sorceress, chaos, sold into slavery but then killed her evil master.

Incidentally, Q'ira was the only returning character.  She started the session at level 2 (the rest at 1st level) because of her previous exploits - hey, she survived The Black Pyramid once... that's a feat few can call their own.

Due to her past, I had Q'ira working under the warlord Ka'an Dar.  The rest of the PCs were slaves.  Q'ira was to lead the other adventurers into The Black Pyramid in order to find valuables and split them with Ka'an Dar.

As the party approached the nigrescent shard rising from the sand like a beacon of dread, they realized another party was already waiting.  The Very Powerful Wizard, a rival of Ka'an Dar, had 4 mercenaries with him.  The VPW had a similar plan - send in the mercs to retrieve artifacts and relics.

There was some inter-party talk of attacking the warlord and VPW, but they soon thought better of it.  I squashed their metagaming out-of-character chatter by saying that they can do anything that's physically possible - no railroad!

I've been noticing that new players are hesitant to act or make the first move.  This is understandable for a variety of reasons.  No one knows each other (for the most part), and also noobs don't want to do something stupid.  Similarly, veterans don't want to die right away.

Since this was a one-hour game, I let the mercs make the first move in order to speed things along.  

After entering and exploring the first room of The Black Pyramid, the PCs followed one of the mercs into an adjacent room.  

Having run this introduction to the pyramid countless times, I decided ahead of time to assign rooms randomly.  That way I can actually see what deeper rooms are like when explored by those outside my home group.

The PCs entered a large facility full of technicians working on computers, 3 gigantic vats full of bright-green stuff, and a yellow robed priest looking on, watchfully.  

The mercs pulled out automatic weapons, but the PCs wanted to get in a surprise attack, which I allowed.  After all, they are the protagonists.

They killed one outright.  Q'ira wanted to cast a fireball spell.  Which allowed for another opportunity to use this handy little table.  Perfect for theater of the mind scenarios such as this.

She rolled a 5 and the sky-elf's opponents burned to a crisp... moments before the yellow robed priest called a tentacled abomination from the depths of Hell!

The players kept asking what the mercs were doing, aside from ignoring the PCs... so, I eventually slipped in something juicy.  One of them muttered "B-team rejects" under his breath.  Well, that was enough to get the PCs into a murderhobo kind of mood.  They immediately turned on the mercs, using clever tactics to get the upper hand.

But then one merc ran up ahead and surprised Axel.  Luckily, he took minor damage before rolling a critical hit - skewering the mercenary.  

One of the mercs had stayed behind in the first room, so Flint Deadlock went back to sneak attack the poor bastard.  After a poor roll (even with advantage), the merc fired and wounded the thief.  A second attack by Flint landed and he rolled max damage, killing his heavily armed foe.

So, a 100% survival rate has maybe happened once in all the times I've run Cha'alt.  Kudos to this group for their skill and luck!

Here are some comments discovered after I exited the chat (but still recorded by Roll20).  I fought hard against my natural inclination to edit punctuation and the like...

"I want to play more of this"

"That was amazing"

"I have never felt that epic playing D&D"

"Thanks Venger Satanis"

"I might buy Cha'alt and run it / very simple system to DM"

It was gratifying to read such praise.  If you're available, join me sometime!

If you're interested in grabbing the PDF of Cha'alt for yourself, it's currently on sale due to DriveThru's Thanksgiving sale.  But if you really want to Cha'alt like a fucking boss, you'll pick up the fancy hardcover and get the PDF for free!

Enjoy,

VS

Why You Should Allow Backseat Gaming (Monday Musings 81)

FuzzyJCats Twitch Channel

Almost all streamers I've met and have immense respect are really against backseat gaming, so this post is to explore reasons why you should reconsider.

I invite backseat gaming enthusiastically because I do need help in games and I don't care if someone says to watch out for x and y even if I'm aware of those particular issues, as well as for other reasons as will be explored below.

Albeit, I don't like story spoilers because other viewers may not know what happens in the end and you really don't want to spoil things. Unfortunately, I've made mistakes during stream where I inadvertently divulged which I then have to apologize.

Of course, I'm not talking about allowing toxic backseat gaming where your viewers are saying that you're a complete loser and waste of space because you missed a secret in game, or other hateful statements. 

Rather, I'm talking about the kind of backseat gaming when your viewers are very excited and enthusiastic about the game and offer tips and suggestions, which then spark a discussion in the community about best weapons, best builds and other gaming matters. This may lead to much needed conversational threads and sense of camaraderie amongst your viewers, since dead air is a death knell.

When new viewers come in and see friendly exchanges about the game in chat, they see that the stream is active and "not dead", and might even join in the lively conversation because they may feel compelled to put in their own two cents.

Now, if you're streaming just for the hobby and you don't care at all about viewers or streaming income, and you absolutely can't stand back seating, by all means, do prohibit it in your streams and ban/timeout anyone who doesn't follow your rules.

However, if you're interested in growing your channel and wanting to get some pocket money from your streaming endeavors, I would consider not just allowing backseat gaming, but perhaps even encouraging.

The key objection to backseat gaming is that it spoils the experience for you as a streamer, but the point is, you're streaming for your audience, not for yourself! Recall that streaming is a form of entertainment.

Another reason is that subconsciously, the streamer wants to figure things out which will make them seem clever to the community to stroke your own ego, but who cares? I found by listening and understanding others (rather than trying to impress by seeming clever and accomplished), people have found me "fun".

I'm emphatically not being a home body, but because I spend hours asking questions about their favorite subjects, such as their children (even as my eyes glaze over, I hate to admit), they enjoy talking to me.

That's not to compliment myself, because the reality is, people want to be seen and heard, and if you give them the platform, they find you absolutely charming.

Next time at a party of strangers, just listen and ask pertinent questions, that person will find you riveting and will talk to you for hours if you let them - they will never make a questionable excuse that they have to go home and feed their cats. Don't be surprised if that person tells their friend that they would like to get to know you better.

Why do people backseat game? There are many reasons, but the main one is because they're very enthusiastic about the game and want to show how much they know, as people want to be seen as intelligent, knowledgeable and helpful, even as backseat gaming grates on almost everyone's nerves. People love to show off and/or share their knowledge and expertise.

Next, what is the purpose of entertaining an audience, of which streaming is a form? People engage in entertainment to have fun and feel good. What better way to do that by allowing your audience to actively participate, and hence feeling good about themselves for being smart, helpful and capable!

Often, when I ask my community what to do in a particular situation or how to get to a certain location due to my horrific sense of directions, they always give me superb advice which adds to chat content.

By telling your viewers how helpful and intelligent they are - and you're not lying because they are exceedingly astute since they also play these games, often spending hundreds to thousands of hours - they feel good about themselves and a sense of accomplishment. Though I think I exhausted some of my viewers when they were giving me directions, so perhaps something I have to dial down in the future. But in general, viewers do enjoy being seen as smart.

The exciting thing is that through the power of backseat gaming, my community literally pushed me through half of Borderlands 2, which is no small feat, given I never succeeded in any FPS! At that time, I could complete Borderlands 2 but it was too mentally exhausting for me to stream since I was inexperienced. Even so, I know I can beat the game off-stream (or even while streaming when I gain more experience) thanks to my lovely community.

The other good thing about allowing backseat gaming is that no one likes to follow rules - freedom here is the key - so if you have a long list of don'ts, it can led to a sense of suffocation. Then there's the inevitable backlash where they do exactly what you don't want them too.

So often, when you hear someone say "Whatever you do, don't touch that",  you're going to want to touch said offensive object, even if in one million years, you'd never think of touching it.

As for objections, I'm sure streamers feel that if they allow backseat gaming, everyone will tell the streamer what to do and the chat will be a chaotic mess. This is actually good since Twitch specifically looks for engaged and active chats! This is Partnership material!

However, don't get excited, because the reverse is true. There are times when I'm practically begging chat to help me find a way, but because they're used to the general etiquette of backseat gaming = bad, they only relent after quite a lengthy period of time, when I'm tearing out my hair.

The other objection I can see is that other viewers might be annoyed with the advice and tips, but at the same time, they can ignore reading the chat comments. They're not forced to be glued to their seats, eyes trained on your chat box.

However, if your community is reasonable, another one of your viewers (maybe a new one) will invariably chime in that there is yet another way to get there, as well as tease you for bad sense of directions. The dialogue tends to go into other intricacies of the game that foster further comments, which is a must if you want to obtain partnership.

Another reasonable objection is that by stumbling about and the community seeing you figure out things your own way could be entertaining, so backseat gaming will prevent that. Again, because the ethos is backseat gaming = bad, even as I'm encouraging my chat to tell me what to do, crickets are chirping until I flounder for up to 30 minutes, maybe for even longer.

Even so, you can thank the viewer and mention that's very smart, but then mention, you'll try it this other way. This is where you can be clever, by finding another solution then what is recommended, in effect showing off your creativity!

The last objection I can think of is what if your viewers are toxic about backseat gaming? Well, timeout or ban said viewer, exactly as you do for any other type of toxic comments on chat, whether it's bigoted remarks, insulting others, or what not.

I can't think of any further issues or problems in empowering your community to give out advice and tips, only positive ones.

What about you? Do you agree, or do you see pitfalls?

The How of Happiness Review